


Send in the Clowns

by Tarlan



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Community: mcsheplets, Community: trope_bingo, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-22
Updated: 2013-04-22
Packaged: 2017-12-09 05:07:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/770310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When they discover a Virtual Environment facility on Atlantis, Woolsey sees the therapy applications, and poor John becomes its first test subject.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Send in the Clowns

**Author's Note:**

  * For [raphe1](https://archiveofourown.org/users/raphe1/gifts).



> Written for:   
> **mcsheplets** prompt #147 Virtual  
>  **trope_bingo** Prompt: au: circus  
>  **ancientctybingo** prompt Fly me to the Moons
> 
> My apologies now for the silliness!

After finding the virtual environment on the Aurora, Rodney knew that there had to be something similar somewhere in Atlantis. He made it a personal challenge to find it and bring it online, excited by the prospects it held for both entertainment value as well as military and medical use. When he mentioned it to John, he half expected a raised eyebrow rather than an excited look.

"Hey! I was in that virtual world on the Aurora. I know how detailed it can be. Imagine one of those multi-player sword and sorcery games that anyone can join in on. Flying dragons and the Eye of Sauron."

"Should have known you were a geek under that cool exterior."

John grinned. "You think I'm cool?"

Rodney rolled his eyes and continued searching through the database looking for clues, and after a moment longer, John pulled up a chair and joined him. Of course Rodney should have guessed that Atlantis would roll over and reveal all her secrets to John first, but as he stood in a section beneath the west pier, looking along a line of pods that extended thirty deep in all directions, Rodney was impressed at the enormity of this finding.

It took days of research to verify that there were multiple options available, and that each pod could connect independently to any environment it so wished. It appeared that on-board the Aurora, that option had been overridden to bring all of the crew into the one virtual environment - a reconstruction of the ship where everyone went about their duty as if in real life. The interface allowed for a controller too, which increased the benefits of using the pods in practical situations such as military training exercises and psychiatry.

Of course, Woolsey latched on to the practical applications, wanting to explore them first, and the replacement for Heightmeyer - Docotr Vashan - decided on a perfect test subject, which amazingly wasn't Rodney despite his mass of neuroses and phobias. No. Doctor Vashan chose John, deciding that he wanted to get to the bottom of John's irrational fear of clowns. About the only compromise was his agreement for the rest of John's team to enter the virtual therapy session with him.

So that was how Rodney opened his eyes to find himself dressed in glittery Spandex, hanging upside down from a trapeze bar high above the big ring of a Big Top Circus.

"Oh God!"

No one had mentioned him having therapy for his irrational acrophobia - fear of heights - at the same time.

The bar was moving, swinging back and forth, and if Rodney had not already fully tested the program to ensure that a person couldn't actually die - even of a heart attack just from the fear of dying - then he would have been even more panicked. In the outside world, his body was effectively in suspended animation, and his heart beat had slowed to a point where it barely registered. Only his mind was active, and although the mind had great power over the body, here it was almost completely separated except by the tiniest thread.

In other words, even if he let go and plunged to the sawdust ground so many feet below, the program would simply reset him.

No fear.

"Clear blue skies," he murmured, and was amazed when the roof of the big top turned blue with big fluffy clouds painted across it. "Did I do that?"

No one answered, but as he watched the painted sky, he saw it darken into starlight from east to west, with hundreds of tiny points of light twinkling high above him. Two moons rose slowly, bathing him in their silvery light. He saw movement and focused on a second empty trapeze equally lit by the soft wash of the second moon, and swinging partway towards him.

"You ready, Rodney?"

"What?!"

Suddenly John was hurtling towards him, the arc of their swing bringing them almost close enough to touch before John was swinging away, as if flying between the two moons. On the third swing, Rodney noticed John was also upside down and reaching for him. Automatically, Rodney reached back, muscles straining when he suddenly had all of John's weight hanging from him.

"What are you doing?!"

John looked up and laughed, feet catching the other trapeze as it swung back and letting go of Rodney. He landed back on the platform with a graceful leap.

"Come on, Rodney. It's perfectly safe. If you miss, I promise not to scream as I plunge to my death," he teased.

"Oh, that's so reassuring!" Rodney yelled back but he couldn't stop thinking of the way John had looked; the long clean lines of his runner's body, the infectious grin, and the trust he had placed in Rodney to catch him.

Before he knew it, John was swinging back again, and Rodney calculated the speed and arc, watching the precision as John let go at the optimum moment to somersault once before catching at Rodney's hands. It was mathematics so pure that it made Rodney's heart ache at the beauty of it. They tried a dozen more times, and miscalculated twice, but each time John would simply appear back on the launch platform, ready to go again. Below them a virtual crowd cheered and applauded every time.

Eventually, after watching John fly a few more times, Vashan interrupted their game, calling them down to the big ring where he was dressed as the Ringmaster. They took a seat and watched together, bumping shoulders as Ronon performed a precision knife-throwing act that was all the more amazing from knowing it wasn't just an act. He truly was that skilled. Teyla followed with an act of balancing and acrobatic skills that awed them all. It was easy to forget how beautiful yet dangerous she could be.

Even though it felt as if they had been here for hours, Rodney knew that it had all taken place at the speed of synapses firing in their brains. Hours were minutes in this virtual world.

"Okay. It's time, Colonel," Vashan stated softly, and Rodney felt his mind fading from John's side, coming back moments later in the space behind the big ring where the performers waited behind a heavy awning.

He looked sideways when Ronon burst out laughing with heavy guffaws, looking round to catch sight of himself in a distorted fun house mirror. His face was painted white with an over-sized red mouth tilted downwards, big red nose and false eyelashes with a large, fake tear painted on his cheek. His head was covered in a curly orange wig with a little upside-down, flower-pot hat perched on top, a flower protruding from it. Baggy checked trousers, a garish shirt, and over-sized shoes finished off his attire.

"I wouldn't laugh too hard if I was you," Rodney growled as he pointed to the mirror, but Ronon simply grinned even wider at his clown-strongman outfit, with a huge fake mustache and lion-cloth wrapped around his muscular torso. Teyla was looking bemused in her crazy clown costume but at least Vashan hadn't given any of them any wraith-like features. A little clown car appeared out of nowhere, and before they knew it, the awning parted and they were half-falling, half tripping out of the car at the center of the big ring.

John froze in shock, but then his head tilted at an angle when he caught Rodney's not-amused expression, and he burst out laughing. Ronon's exaggerated strongman impression only made him laugh harder. Still disgruntled, Rodney watched as John staggered towards him, and he couldn't resist squirting John in the face with the pretend flower as a small payback for the ridicule. Rodney reached up to remove the irritating nose but John stayed his hand, reaching out instead to pull it away. Rodney stayed quiet and still as John pulled off the false eyelashes and wig, before using a damp cloth that had magically appeared in his hand to wipe away some of the heavy make-up.

Later, Rodney couldn't be certain who had leaned in first, or if they had both leaned in together but the press of soft, still smiling lips against his was startling. The circus faded away, and Rodney opened his eyes as the pod moved smoothly outwards and opened.

Vashan climbed out of his pod and his smile encompassed both John and Rodney.

"I believe you two have something more to discuss."

They both accepted a shoulder slap from Ronon and a smile from Teyla, who both declared it was the most fun they'd had in a long while before leaving them alone together.

Rodney took a deep breath. "Well..."

John tilted his head again and smiled mysteriously, eyes crinkling around the edges. "I still hate clowns," he declared, "But I could easily make an exception for you."

His grin widened and he laughed in obvious remembrance, reaching out to draw Rodney forward. The laughter faded as John kissed him again, and as Rodney drew him into his arms and kissed him back harder, it was all the better for knowing that, this time, it was in the real world.

END


End file.
